Thursday, December 24, 2009

So I had been running the stock rings and balls for a few races now and decided to open up the diff the see what was going on. I took everything apart and cleaned everything up. I took a close look at the stock rings for wear and could see the high and low spots on both rings. I was pretty surprised at the difference in wear marks on the rings! I was also examining how all the parts fit together and noticed some binding in the two small inner bearings (the ones in the diff gear). I found a thin Kyosho shim that fit between the bearings perfectly and prevents them from binding with each other (credit to local racer Bill Jones who mentioned this to me at last weekends race). I cleaned all the new parts with motor spray and then put the B-Fast Carbide diff balls in the diff gear and then the B-Fast rings on the outdrives with a couple of small dabs of CA on the outside to help secure them in place. I took the thrust washers and worked them with some 800 grit paper, cleaned them and installed Earls ceramic thrust bearings. The B Fast lube syringe is pretty sweet. Makes application precise, quick and easy. Re-assembled the whole gearbox and threw it back into the RB5SP. Fired up the car and ran a quick break in process on the diff and then made some final tweaks to get the tension right. Right off the bat I noticed I needed less tension on the diff to keep it from barking. Also, I really can't stop playing with the diff...lol...It is that smooth (it is sitting on the couch with me..haha). I have never had a diff this smooth and free..seriously, this is a nice kit. I would have never had guessed this kind of prep could make this much of a difference. I can't wait to try it out on the track (especially if it is a bit loose traction wise). I am hoping to head out next weekend to Glenwood Rc to try it out. Stay tuned for the results!

Stock rings. Hard to see uneven wear in the pic (crappy camera)

BFast ring ready to go in.

BFast Carbide diff balls

"Earl's" ceramic thrust bearing balls

Lube syringes

Accurate and easy application of lube and balls

I forgot to snap a few more pics of the build (including the little washer I was talking about). I will grab those when I tear it apart next time after some racing on them. Stay Tuned!

Edit: Speaking of Bill Jones. Ummmm I was checking out his RB5 and talking with him about his diff process as his car had THE absolute smoothest diff I have ever felt in my life. I will try to get some more pics and pick his brain on his diff building process, which is pretty extreme (talking slotting the outdrives to use blade inserts, sanding the diff rings, pinning the diff rings to the outdrives etc etc).

Friday, December 18, 2009

So made my first race back on dirt since the hiatus @ Glenwood RC's new place. Much nicer than the last building. The Glenwood crew has stepped it up and gave us a really cool little track to race dirt on this winter. Young gun Ryan King made the trip with me. He won the 2wd A Main last week. Chet was absent because he was celebrating Christmas early with the family and Steve's passport has not shown up yet. The track surface is the weirdest dirt you will come across. I think it is river bed silt and feels like talcum powder. When wet the traction is pretty good, but if it dries out you will be fighting for traction. I ended up using JConcept Green Goosebumps in the rear and Green Groovy Fronts. The rears were slicked out and the fronts were taken down about 3/4 of the way. In 2wd TQ changed every round. Kyosho teammate Scott Cimato took round one, Ryan took round two and I stole it in round 3. For the main we were all debating tire choice and I kept the JC's on. I lead out right from the tone and never looked back. Ryan started to gun me down near the end but I managed to squeak the extra lap in on them (just to show them who the boss is still...haha). It felt good to get back onto dirt and really needed the practice for up coming CRCRC.

Random thoughts:- Only took us just over an hour to get there including border crossing. Sweet!- No hassles either way from Customs. Sweet!- I wish 2wd was more popular there. Funny how different tracks have different big classes. 4wd is big at Glenwood.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Hide your daughters.....It is getting closer to that time of year again! "Almost Live" will be on the road again to bring you the scoop from the 2010 season kick off race. A little preview for the year to see who is on their early season form. Hope to have some new features for you, but again it will depend on how good the on site internet is.

CRCRC Wishlist:

- Good internet (gonna be hard with that many people)- Slick tire track (not having to grind tires to 5 different types of "Ghost Pins" would be nice)- A huge ass triple (kidding, but a nice flowy fun track with good visability would be cool)- Not insanely cold weather (or have provisions for block heaters...haha)- No tire bucket spilling (for once please)- Nobody forgetting a car at home (I will be all over the Jay & Fred "isms")